Saturday, November 17, 2007

In its first dramatic move since the beginning of the Writers Guild strike, NBC has fired "nearly the entire production staff" of its struggling, late-night staple, "Saturday Night Live," the New York Post reported on Saturday.

"'SNL' laid off all their staff until further notice. Their production staff, even long-term employees, were let go," a source told the Post. Another source confirmed that "90 percent of the 'SNL' staff was fired."

And while The Washington Post reported yesterday that NBC might lay staff off at Jay Leno's "Tonight" show, "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and "Last Call With Carson Daly" - all of which immediately went into rerun mode on Nov. 5 - those staffers would at least get paid for two more weeks. But an insider told the Post that "SNL" staffers got no severance.

Although no official announcement had been made as of last night about firings at any of NBC's late-night shows, multiple sources confirmed to the Post that "SNL" staffers learned of their axing yesterday morning. Reps for NBC declined comment.

** OK, something NEEDS to be done to fix this situation! I've been watching this show since season one, and cannot imagine a world with no SNL in it. - Ace:(